Lupacexi wrote:3 men go to a hotel, they want a room, the room costs $30

Each man pays $10 each and goes to the room.

Later that evening, the night manager comes in and finds out that the day person overcharged the 3 men by $5

He sends the bellhop to the mens room to give them back the five dollars. The bellhop figures it is too hard to divide the $5 to the three men so he keeps $2 for himself and gives each man a $1.

Each man paid $10 but received a $1 back for a total of $9 each

The bellhop keeps $2 for himself.

Where did the other dollar go?

3 x $9 = $27 + $2 = $29

The last equation is incorrect.

After the refund, they'd paid $27 for a $25 room. That left $2 for the bellhop. The proper equations should be:

3 x $9 = $27$27 - $2 = $25

That could be written (incorrectly) as:

3 x $9 = $27 - $2 = $25

It's incorrect to write that way because the left equality doesn't hold true ( 3 x 9 does not equal 27 - 2 ). That's not the heart of the problem, but it does make it more confusing. A more proper way to write this is:

3 x $9 = $27 = $25 + $2

That shows the final disposition of the transaction, and all equal signs are between equal quantities (as they should be). The three men (left) paid $9 each for a total of $27. That money was split (right) with $25 for the hotel and $2 for the bellhop.

At the time of this posting there's been no solution posted to the Oz Form.